Is reading really useful for children under 5? (wife, activity, son)
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I've been waiting for someone to talk about learning the rhythm of speech. Ever hear the reader who reads. one. word. at. a. time in a monotone? You can hardly understand what he's saying. Do you even care?
As Nov3 said, it's important to teach a child how colorful and interesting our language can sound. It will make him a better public speaker and conversant.
I started talking to my children from day one and also reading to them. My daughter was speaking in simple whole sentences by the time she was one. (Throwing in a forgivable brag, there.) The other one scarcely has said a word since then with a mom and sis who never shut up, poor guy.
No children now but I talk to new kittens and it's amazing how large an understanding vocabulary the cat will have if you are regular in using consistent speech with them.
I agree with all of this. I talked to all of my kids too. I seldom used baby talk either.
Not a parent, but I was reading at 4. My dad came home from a business trip and gifted me my first book when I was 4. Dr. Suess 'In A People House'.
Some words in books I did not know and had to get help on what they were and what they meant, but overall, I was reading a lot of books from that point on.
It absolutely develops imagination, it put my older brother and me into advanced reading/spelling/English classes right in elementary school, I was reading what high school or college kids "have" to read for class on my own, at a much younger age, for the mere joy of it.
I can tell you from the kid perspective: It is a very useful thing to do under 5. I don't know how much younger, but 4 is definitely not out of the question.
I don't remember exactly what age, maybe 3, but I remember figuring out my first word from the newspaper - it was "is". My parents read all the time, read to me, while they very very wisely did not push me to learn to read early, I just picked it up because everyone in the family was reading. I was likewise a very fast reader (though we didn't time me) - when I was 10 we moved to a town that had a library three blocks from our house. That first summer, I walked to the library ever day and stayed there, sitting on the floor (small town library) and reading three books a day until I'd worked my way all the way through the youth section and wanted to read the books in the adult section. The librarian got permission from my parents easily for me to do so (Daddy had a 5,000 hardback library and the rule in our house was that I could read any book that I picked up and sustained an interest in) and I finished the library that summer. (This was not, by the way, considered something special in our household, any more than scoring in the top 2% on nationwide tests on everything but math was, I was just a little bit better at it just like my sister was better at some other things - math being one of them.)
I grew up loving to read at the dinner table, which annoyed my mother no end. Once she asked me what I would do when I got married and my husband didn't like me reading at the table. I solved that one by marrying someone who likes to read at the dinner table - we each brought 11 beer boxes of paperbacks to our marriage as our respective dowries. So, of course, our children were read to and, just as important, saw us reading for pleasure. Both are prolific readers. My grandson, now age five, has been read to for all of his life. Yes, it's a good thing to do.
I would say so. Reading develops imagination. Reading is entertaining and little kids require a lot of entertainment. Early reading organizes the brain to function with math (as does music)
Most children learn reading just as easily as verbal skills when they are very young. A three year old can learn several foreign languages easily and reading is just another foreign language. They can pick it up quickly and easily.
Reading is not just another foreign language. How silly.
Humans have several vocabularies, usually in their primary language.
And they are not learned simultaneously.
One learns to speak, read, and write at different stages.
I was never read to.
I entered first grade at 4 ys 8 mos and graduated 12th grade at 16 ys 6 mos.
At grade 4 I was removed from reading lessons to tutor younger students.
Children develop at their own pace and when they are ready.
Yes, it's important, but what's important is reading to the child, not trying to teach the child to read. You need to get the words in before trying to get the words out. I'm a firm believer in reading out loud to children as early as possible and up to 1 or 1.5
hours per day, and not always short picture books that are over in a few minutes. By age 5 a child should be listening day by day to longer chapter books like "Little House in the Big Woods" and "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe."
When it comes to actually reading, for preschoolers you should follow their lead. There is NO long-term advantage to being able to read at 2, 3, or 4, and you can do more harm than good by forcing reading skills on such small children. On the other hand, if the child shows early interest, then by all means teach them letters, sounds, and words, but I wouldn't do anything formal at that age.
I taught all three of my children to read (we homeschooled for the early years) but I did not start with any of them until 4.5, and with my second daughter, she was closer to 6. But they were all listening to long books read out loud (by me, my husband or on tape) long before that, and once we started reading lessons, they were able to read almost anything within a short time.
This is really cool
But can 6-year-olds really read books like Narnia?
Reading on their own? No. Not remotely important. No long term benefit really. I suppose their is a short term benefit if it’s natural. It could be detrimental if forced. Being read to? Absolutely important.
I read young, my kids read young. It means nothing really except that we were ready when we were ready. I was bright/gifted. My kids are bright. So are plenty of their peers who read later. No long lasting benefit.
This is really cool
But can 6-year-olds really read books like Narnia?
Yes, some can. Virtually all, though, can and should listen to books like Narnia if their parents have been reading to them regularly.
I myself was an early reader, the youngest child in a family of seven and the only one who was reading before school age (I was 4 when I "picked it up."). At this time children weren't expected to read until they were formally taught in grade 1 so this was considered remarkable. Teachers didn't know what to do with me. I recall spending much of kindergarten and grade 1 sitting quietly by myself reading a book (like Narnia, which was an absolute favorite) while the teacher taught the rest of the class the letters and how to blend sounds.
In the long run, I can't see that it made any difference other than that I got to enjoy more children's classics because I had more years to read them than the other kids. I didn't go on to finish school early. I wasn't the high school valedictorian. I was not a standout in college, and I didn't get a better job and become richer and more successful than the kids who started reading at age 6. And none of my own kids was reading at 4, although they are all bright and love to read.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
